Top Items:
Lori Montgomery / Washington Post:
In debt talks, Obama offers Social Security cuts — President Obama is pressing congressional leaders to consider a far-reaching debt-reduction plan that would force Democrats to accept major changes to Social Security and Medicare in exchange for Republican support for fresh tax revenue.
Discussion:
The Politico, The Caucus, The New Republic, Gawker, Scarecrow's myFDL diary, Oliver Willis, Corrente and FrumForum
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Mike Lillis / The Hill:
Dem leader says he'll help GOP on debt-ceiling vote, but at a price — House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) on Wednesday said he's willing to help Republicans secure the votes they need to pass an increase in the debt ceiling, but not without conditions.
Discussion:
Reuters, The Politico, CNN, The Daily Caller, The Hill and Booman Tribune
Paul Broun / National Review:
Thinking Outside the Box: Let's Lower the Debt Ceiling
Thinking Outside the Box: Let's Lower the Debt Ceiling
Discussion:
Mother Jones and TalkLeft
Michael O'Brien / The Hill:
Pawlenty co-chairman: Bachmann will be ‘very hard to beat’ in Iowa — Rep. Michele Bachmann (Minn.) is going to be “very hard to beat” in Iowa's Republican caucuses, a co-chairman of former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty's campaign said Wednesday. — Vin Weber, a former GOP congressman …
Discussion:
The Note, The Caucus, CNN, The Huffington Post, Washington Post and Iowa Caucuses
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Tom Jensen / Public Policy Polling:
Bachmann surging, signs of weakness for Romney
Bachmann surging, signs of weakness for Romney
Discussion:
TPMDC, The Atlantic Online, The Politico, Hot Air, Balloon Juice, GOP 12, The New Republic, The Reaction, Indecision Forever, Gallup and Ballot Box
Jason Horowitz / Washington Post:
Michele Bachmann's husband shares her strong conservative values
Michele Bachmann's husband shares her strong conservative values
Discussion:
Weigel, Salon, ThinkProgress, Pam's House Blend, The Awl, Pajamas Media, Shakesville and Ben Smith's Blog
Rob Bluey / The Daily Caller:
White House uses Twitter to bully critics — President Obama's director of progressive media is obsessed with one particular conservative provocateur. Jesse Lee's duties at the White House include “online response” — and there has been no shortage of responses to one person who routinely communicates with him on Twitter.
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Chris Cillizza / Washington Post:
Obama's Twitter townhall: A win-win for the White House
Obama's Twitter townhall: A win-win for the White House
Discussion:
CNN, Hot Air, Michelle Malkin and GeekWire
Katie Pavlich / Townhall.com:
Katie Pavlich Scandal Grows: FBI, DEA Involved With Operation Fast and Furious — Yesterday, Acting ATF Director Kenneth Melson answered questions from Rep. Darrell Issa and Senator Charles Grassley surrounding Operation Fast and Furious. Melson voluntarily participated in the interview …
Discussion:
The Daily Caller and Hot Air
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Hans A. von Spakovsky / Pajamas Media:
Gunwalker: The ATF's Kenneth Melson Blows the Whistle on the Justice Department
Gunwalker: The ATF's Kenneth Melson Blows the Whistle on the Justice Department
Discussion:
The Lonely Conservative, Moe Lane, Power Line, Sister Toldjah, Wizbang, Nice Deb, Confederate Yankee and Daily Pundit
Paul Krugman:
The Obama-Keynes Mystery — I'm not alone in marveling at the extent to which Obama has thrown his rhetorical weight behind anti-Keynesian economics; Ryan Avent is equally amazed, as are many others. And now he's endorsing the structural unemployment story too.
Discussion:
Sky Dancing, No More Mister Nice Blog and The Confluence
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Matthew Yglesias / ThinkProgress:
Barack Obama's Dangerous Embrace Of Economic Fatalism
Barack Obama's Dangerous Embrace Of Economic Fatalism
Discussion:
Right Wing News, TalkLeft, Pundit & Pundette and The New Republic
Ron Kampeas / JTA:
U.S. says Israel's inclusion on terrorist watch list was a mistake — WASHINGTON (JTA) — Israel was included erroneously on a U.S. Department of Homeland Security terrorist watch list, a U.S. official said. — John Morton, the director of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement division …
Discussion:
Weasel Zippers and Jihad Watch
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Jeff Dunetz / YID With LID:
REVERSAL! DHS Now Says Putting Israel on Terrorist Watch List Was A Mistake
REVERSAL! DHS Now Says Putting Israel on Terrorist Watch List Was A Mistake
Discussion:
The Jawa Report
Merrill Matthews / Human Events:
Gov. Rick Perry: The Candidate Obama Would Fear the Most — More than any other potential GOP presidential candidate, President Obama fears Texas Gov. Rick Perry. That's because Perry is the only one who can devastate virtually any Obama claim. — Take the whine we hear most often from the President …
Discussion:
The Hill, Opinion L.A. and New York Times
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Tom Jensen / Public Policy Polling:
Perry doing better with Texas Republicans
Perry doing better with Texas Republicans
Discussion:
GOP 12 and Ballot Box
ABCNEWS:
Casey Anthony Juror: ‘Sick to Our Stomachs’ Over Not Guilty Verdict — Casey Anthony juror Jennifer Ford said today that she and the other jurors cried and were “sick to our stomachs” after voting to acquit Casey Anthony of charges that she killed her 2-year-old daughter Caylee.
Discussion:
Hot Air, The Informer, TMZ.com, Gothamist, Gawker and Verum Serum, more at Mediagazer »
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Elaine Quijano / CBS News:
Policy shift in presidential condolence letters — PLAY CBS NEWS VIDEO — NEW YORK - Most families who lose a loved one in the war zones receive a letter of condolence from the President of the United States. But there are a few who do not receive this honor.
Discussion:
Fox News, The Politico and Shakesville
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Felicia Sonmez / Washington Post:
Cantor says GOP open to cutting tax loopholes in debt deal, but Senate Republicans balk — In a marked shift, Republicans are now willing to close some tax loopholes as part of a final deal to raise the nation's legal borrowing limit, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) said Wednesday.
Discussion:
Hullabaloo and FrumForum
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Alex Seitz-Wald / ThinkProgress:
Union Workers Replaced With Prison Labor Under Scott Walker's Collective Bargaining Law — While Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker's (R) law dismantling collective bargaining rights has harmed teachers, nurses, and other civil servants, it's helping a different group in Wisconsinites — inmates.
Discussion:
ECHIDNE of the snakes and The Raw Story
Bob Egelko / San Francisco Chronicle:
Court bars enforcement of 'don't ask, don't tell' — (07-06) 13:16 PDT SAN FRANCISCO — A federal appeals court ordered a halt today to the armed forces' discharge of openly gay service members, citing the Obama administration's disavowal of laws that discriminate based on sexual orientation.
Discussion:
Frontlines, The SLDN Blog, Firedoglake, Outside the Beltway, Taylor Marsh and FrumForum
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Ian Millhiser / ThinkProgress:
Ninth Circuit Reinstates Court Order Striking Down Don't Ask, Don't Tell
Ninth Circuit Reinstates Court Order Striking Down Don't Ask, Don't Tell
Discussion:
Pam's House Blend
Brian Stelter / Media Decoder:
CNN Cancels ‘In the Arena’ With Eliot Spitzer — 1:30 p.m. | Updated CNN on Wednesday cancelled Eliot Spitzer's 8 p.m. political talk show, “In The Arena,” and said it would shift Anderson Cooper's 10 p.m. nightly newscast into the time slot. — The cable news channel also said that Erin Burnett …
Amanda Terkel / The Huffington Post:
Rep. Tim Scott Floats Impeachment If Obama Invokes 14th Amendment On Debt Limit (VIDEO) … WASHINGTON — While some have asserted that the debt limit might be unconstitutional under the 14th Amendment, and therefore President Obama does not need congressional approval to raise it …
Discussion:
Weasel Zippers, Alan Colmes' Liberaland and FrumForum
Elias Groll / The Politico:
Could Barack Obama drop Joe Biden? — Barack Obama will dump Joe Biden for Hillary Clinton. Or Andrew Cuomo. Or whoever's next to emerge in the speculation game. — As political pipe dreams go, the idea that a sitting president will swap out his running mate is one of the oldest — and least likely to come true.
Darren Samuelsohn / The Politico:
Bill Clinton likens GOP effort to Jim Crow laws — Former President Bill Clinton Wednesday compared GOP efforts to limit same-day voter registration and block some convicted felons from voting to Jim Crow laws and poll taxes. — In a speech to liberal youth activists Wednesday …
Discussion:
Sister Toldjah, The Gateway Pundit, Weasel Zippers, CNN, TPMDC and FrumForum
Christi Parsons / Los Angeles Times:
TSA warns of possible airline threat involving implanted bombs — A traveler is inspected at a TSA checkpoint at LAX this year. (Mark Boster) — The government has warned airlines that terrorists are considering surgically implanting explosives into people in an attempt …
Discussion:
Danger Room, SWJ Blog, Wizbang, The Jawa Report and ProfessorBainbridge.com
Sarah Palin / Facebook:
Media Making Things Up: “Tears” and “Rages” During “The Undefeated”? Really? — Obviously we've seen our share of media lies, but the latest fabrications circulated take a big slice of the cake. The UK Daily Mail reports that I was “in tears” as Todd “rages over Hollywood stars ripping” me in the new film “The Undefeated.”
Discussion:
The Note, Daily Mail, Top of the Ticket, Conservatives4Palin, The Daily Caller and The Other McCain
Nick Schulz / Economics 2.0:
How Effective Was The 2009 Stimulus Program? — So the stimulus — the so-called American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 or ARRA — is starting to wind down. What are the results? — Depends on whom you ask, of course. Conservatives will say unemployment is near double-digits and growth is slow, so clearly it didn't work.
Discussion:
Michelle Malkin, USA Today, Hit & Run, RedState, Don Surber and Pajamas Media
Townhall.com:
Townhall Columnists Armstrong Williams — Where is our Morality President? — These are questionable times in our country's heralded history. The current Congress remains grid locked on nearly every issue of the day, unable to move even basic legislation regarding public safety, transportation, even the Post Office.
Discussion:
Firedoglake
Caitlin Dickson / The Atlantic Wire:
Richard Dawkins Gets into a Comments War with Feminists — Players: Famed evolutionary biologist, Richard Dawkins; Rebecca Watson, female activist. — Opening Serve: Richard Dawkins made an unexpected appearance in the comments section of biologist PZ Myers' post at Scienceblogs.com last week.
Discussion:
The Other McCain, Vox Popoli, Pharyngula and pandagon.net
Ezra Klein / Washington Post:
The GOP's evolving case against taxes — There are two ways to increase taxes. One is you just raise rates, particularly the top rates. Economists in general — and Republican economists in particular — don't much like this approach because it raises taxes on the last dollars you've earned.
Discussion:
The New Republic and A plain blog about politics
Michael McAuliff / The Huffington Post:
Jeff Sessions: Saying Millionaires Should Share Pain Is ‘Rather Pathetic’ … WASHINGTON — Having the Senate declare that millionaires should share more of the pain involved in putting America's financial house in order is “rather pathetic,” Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) declared Tuesday.
Discussion:
ThinkProgress, The Moderate Voice, The TrogloPundit, Indecision Forever and Washington Monthly
Amnesty International:
REPORT REVEALS CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY IN SYRIAN TOWN — The brutal methods used in a devastating Syrian security operation in the western town of Tell Kalakh may constitute crimes against humanity, Amnesty International said today in a new report. — Crackdown in Syria …
Discussion:
ThinkProgress and The Daily Dish